Discovery

Featured shows

Before complaining about the market price of Alaska king crab, check out this gripping documentary series, revealing the mortal perils and intense discomfort that fishing crews face on the Bering Sea to catch the delicacy. Those perils include 40-foot waves, 700-pound crab pots that can easily crush a careless crewman, and freezing temperatures around the clock.

Intrigued by legendary mysteries and driven by curiosity, Josh Gates is on a mission for answers. "Exhibition Unknown" chronicles his global adventures as he investigates iconic unsolved events, lost cities, buried treasures and other puzzling stories. Armed with a degree in archaeology, a quick wit and a thirst for action, Gates investigates recent developments before embarking on a detailed exploration. Whether he's trekking through Fiji in search of Amelia Earhart's remains or diving the deep seas of Panama to locate Captain Morgan's pirate ship, Gates' roughshod expeditions lead him one step closer to the truth.

Discovery Channel takes the ubiquitous survival show theme to the next level by stripping it to its bare essentials. In "Naked and Afraid," complete strangers -- usually a man and a woman -- meet in a very unique way: They're stranded in a dangerous, desolate location, without food or water, and they're completely naked. Each episode follows the adventurers as they attempt to survive on their own with nothing but a personal item and the knowledge that the only prize is their pride and sense of accomplishment. Because there is no other choice, competitors quickly get to know one another -- and their surroundings -- and hope that their instincts, survival skills and intestinal fortitude serve them well.

Although the state's mention in the title was dropped after the first season, Alaska still plays a major role in Discovery Channel's top-rated show. It follows gold miners, inexperienced as some may be, hoping to strike it rich in the wilds of The Last Frontier and beyond. For their first effort, a crew led by Todd Hoffman and his father, Jack, sunk $250,000 into their dream and came away with just $20,000 worth of gold. The dismal summer was filled with injuries, malfunctioning equipment and constant fighting among the greenhorn miners, yet their serious case of gold fever trumps any talk of giving up and leads to new operating plans in order to salvage their dream. The series also keeps tabs on the efforts of brash youngster Parker Schnabel, veteran Dakota Fred and longtime Yukon resident Tony Beets to hit the mother lode at separate sites.

The gold rush in Alaska isn't confined to the state's precious ground. It's taking place on the sea ... or more accurately, on the bottom of the frigid Bering Sea. This series, from the creators of the Emmy-winning "Deadliest Catch," follows four gold dredges and their eccentric and driven crews who risk their lives to find as much gold as possible before winter sets in and it's too dangerous to dive. The custom-built rigs, some barely seaworthy, include an 80-foot barge run by the most successful gold dredger in Nome, Alaska, and a modified skiff that seats only two people.

TV's most extreme survival challenge just grew extra-large. Veteran survivalists familiar with the stripped-down drill after appearing on "Naked and Afraid" attempt to survive in a desolate, dangerous environment for 40 days -- 19 more than they previously experienced on the show. Pushing the very limits of human endurance, the men and women must all vie for the same limited food, water and shelter while avoiding territorial-sensitive predators and venom-filled reptiles. Because there is no other choice, the competitors quickly get to know one another -- and their surroundings -- and hope that their instincts, survival skills and intestinal fortitude serve them well.

Richard Rawlings and Aaron Kaufman deal in rusty gold. The proprietors of Gas Monkey Garage in Dallas buy, restore and resell forgotten, derelict American cars, everything from 1931 Model A cars to '73 Trans Ams. As "Fast N' Loud" shows, Rawlings is the mastermind, a deal-maker with an eye for relics worth their efforts, and to find them the guys search barns, fields and auctions across the U.S. Kaufman manages most restorations. He's a fabricator and self-taught mechanic, whose techniques and design skills first endeared him to Rawlings and kick-started the partnership. At the end of Season 12, that partnership ended when Kaufman exited Gas Monkey, leaving Rawlings as the series' sole star.

Buying diesel trucks headed for the scrap heap and giving them new leases on life has turned into big business for the Diesel Brothers. Led by Heavy D and Diesel Dave, the crew works hard and plays harder as they trick out the trucks for use in elaborate pranks and stunts, all of which becomes a marketing tool on social media. Millions of hits later the company is known as the destination for diesel lovers who are looking for custom builds, crazy stunts, pranks and hilarious antics.

This spinoff of "Street Outlaws" is set on the mean streets of Memphis, Tenn., where fast-talking, bet-taking JJ Da Boss and his family and friends have ruled the underground racing scene for decades. Pride and honor define Team Memphis, despite JJ being well-versed in the art of hustle. They are "trying to beat ya, not cheat ya" and all challengers are welcome to take on a family that rarely fails.

Street racing in the U.S. is the subject of this docu-reality series, which purportedly provides an inside look into the action both on the road and behind the scenes. In Oklahoma City, for example, racers boast having the fastest street cars in the country, and the racing, they say, comes first -- before family, before friends and before work. From a 1969 Chevy Nova to a race-ready farm truck, the vehicles -- and their drivers -- come in all shapes and sizes and have one thing in common: the need for speed.

Surviving in the wild is not an exact science. Beyond the basics of finding water, food, shelter and eventually help, opinions vary. Two experts tell how they think it's done in this series, as initial episodes feature trained survivalists Dave Canterbury and Cody Lundin demonstrating the skills and creative thinking that can help one cope in tough surroundings. Equipped with minimal gear, the pair are left in remote locations -- an uninhabited island off Nova Scotia, a New Zealand mountaintop, deep in the Everglades, the jungle of Thailand, and the desert of Baja California, to name a few -- where they battle the elements and sometimes each other. Season 3 introduces U.S. Special Ops veteran Joseph Teti to replace Canterbury, in the middle of Season 4 primitive survivalist Matt Graham of Discovery's "Dude, You're Screwed" replaces Lundin, and partway through Season 5 producers forge new partnerships by rotating survival experts as hosts.

Idyllic in nature, the concept of living a scaled-down, simpler, off-the-grid life has gained popularity in recent years, but the initial results for many budding homesteaders have been disappointing. The learning curve is steep, especially in the most dangerous and isolated locations across the country. Many families are not equipped with the skills, experience or knowledge of how to grow food, find water, harness power or deal with the threat of predators. In "Homestead Rescue," craftsman and survival expert Marty Raney -- joined by daughter Misty, a farmer, and son Matt, a hunter and fisherman -- attempt to teach these families the essential skills on how to survive -- and thrive -- in the wilderness. Because sustaining a homestead through hunting, fishing, gardening, building upkeep, security, and problem solving is a full-time job. At the conclusion of each episode, the rookie survivalists decide to either tough out their first year or pack up and return to civilization.

Adventurer Ed Stafford has walked the length of the Amazon River -- he is the first person to accomplish that -- so perhaps being stranded on a desert island near Fiji without clothes, food, water and tools and attempting to survive for 60 days isn't that daunting. The only possessions he does have are cameras, and so viewers are provided a fly-on-the-wall perspective of Ed's attempts to find food, make fire, process water to drink, and build a shelter -- among many other tasks that will help him stay alive.